Cheri D. Guerra
Objectives: Students will understand the greenhouse effect and global warming. They will also identify their own behaviors that contribute to the greenhouse effect and what they could do to help. They will also understand different viewpoints that exist.
Day One: (Use Appendix 1)
Lesson Introduction:
I will access students' prior knowledge, asking them: "What do you already know about the greenhouse effect?" and "What questions do you have about the greenhouse effect?
Experiment:
I will explain that we are about to recreate the greenhouse effect through an experiment. I will take 2 one--liter Mason jars (without lids) -- each filled with 2 cups of cold water and two drops of blue food coloring. I will place a fish tank thermometer inside each jar. I will wrap one jar in a gallon-sized plastic baggie and tell the students that these jars will be placed in direct sunlight. I will then ask the students to make predictions: "After one hour, which jar will be the hottest?"
I will have the students break up into groups and collect the same materials so that they may each create the experiment. Students will be given a handout to record their predictions and observations throughout the experiment. Students will begin by recording the current temperature of the water and making a prediction about what the temperature of each jar will be in one hour. They will then place their jars in the direct sunlight (on a window sill or outside).
Student Research:
During the hour, I will let the students research the greenhouse effect. This can be done in several ways and can be independent, small group (as centers), or whole class. They can use multiple resources like books, magazines, newspaper articles, and online websites and videos. A handout with questions that relate to the central idea can help students keep track of their new learning. They can then break up into small groups to discuss their answers.
As the jars remain in the sun, students can check them periodically and plot their temperatures every 15 minutes.
Conclusion:
Students record the final temperature after one hour and compare the results to their initial predictions. Students can talk about the results with their group mates and compare the experiment with what they learned about the greenhouse effect during their independent research.
Assessments:
Students will answer the following question independently: (allow 5-10 minutes)
"Why did the water in the bagged jar become hotter?"
Once the written responses are collected, students can share out their ideas about the greenhouse effect to the whole class. Some may want to explain it through a diagram or other visual. Students should be encouraged to communicate what they learned in various ways.
Other ways of assessing student learning include using a rubric to monitor their progress on: following directions for the experiment, recording predictions and observations, completing a handout with questions, making a line graph that shows the temperatures of each jar, and generating an oral and/or written explanation of the experiment.
Day Two: (Use Appendix 2)
Lesson Introduction:
I will access students' prior knowledge, asking them: "What did you learn yesterday about the greenhouse effect?" and "How does the greenhouse effect contribute to global warming or climate change?"
Instruction:
I will revisit the greenhouse effect and demonstrate it again (a short video or diagram will work best for visual learners). I will explain the theory that the rising levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere are contributing to climate change.
Activity:
I will break the students into small groups with heterogeneous reading levels and ask them to read the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) "State of Knowledge" on climate change. I will ask the students to highlight important information. I will then ask them to fill in a graphic organizer with bullet points under "what's known", "what's very likely", and "what's not certain".
Conclusion:
I will show the students a short clip from Al Gore's movie, "An Inconvenient Truth", where he demonstrates the correlation between the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the global average temperature. I will then give the students data that further demonstrate the correlation and ask them to graph the data in small groups.
Assessments:
Students will answer the following questions independently: (allow 5-10 minutes)
What is your point of view? Is the rising level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causing climate change? Are human behaviors causing climate change? What is our responsibility?
Other ways of assessing student learning include using a rubric to monitor their progress on: participation in whole-class discussion, participation in small group, completing the graphic organizer, and generating an oral and/or written response to the assessment questions.
Day Three: (Use Appendixes 3 and 4)
Lesson Introduction:
I will access students' prior knowledge, asking them "How do humans impact the greenhouse effect and global warming?"
Instruction:
I will revisit the EPA's "State of Knowledge" and ask the students to recall what is "known", "very likely", and "not certain". I will remind them that scientists are certain that human activities are changing the earth's atmosphere by increasing the levels of greenhouse gases like CO
2
, which tend to warm the planet.
Activity:
I will break the students into small groups and ask them to look back at their notes from the last two class periods. I will ask them to reflect on what they have learned and brainstorm a list of human behaviors that contribute to the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Next, they will brainstorm a list of things they can do to help.
Conclusion:
I will put up a large cause-effect-solution graphic organizer on the overhead or on chart paper for us to fill in as a class. The effect will already be filled in with "Increases the level of CO
2
and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, tending to warm the planet very likely causing climate change." I will ask students to share out a human behavior (cause) that causes an increased level of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, such as "driving cars." I will then ask students to come up with solutions to the behaviors, such as "carpooling".
Assessments:
Using their notes and the large graphic organizer that we filled in, students will independently come up with a personal action plan based on the following questions. (Allow 10-15 minutes) What personal behaviors do you want to change about yourself? What are three goals you would like to set for yourself in response to what you have learned about the global warming? How will you accomplish these goals?
Other ways of assessing student learning include using a rubric to monitor their progress on: participation in whole-class discussion, participation in small group, completing the graphic organizer, and generating an oral and/or written response to the assessment questions.
